The Doc Rivers-Bill Simmons feud is not going away.
Rivers, the former Celtics coach who recently jumped to the Clippers, said on WEEI radio on Friday that Simmons, now an ESPN analyst, “did everything he could to get me fired” early in Rivers’ career with Boston.
“He wrote letters,” Rivers said of Simmons, an unabashed Celtics fan. “He actually wanted to have a sitdown with one of our owners about firing me. He had an agenda. Thank God our owns didn’t believe him. They actually laughed at him and thought he was a joke.”
Simmons was not pleased with the accusations. He tweeted Rivers’ comment then wrote: “The quote I just retweeted is an outright, 100 percent lie. I’d be careful, Glenn. Seriously. Stop talking. You are making sh*t up.”
The quote I just retweeted is an outright, 100 percent lie. I'd be careful, Glenn. Seriously. Stop talking. You are making sh*t up.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) June 28, 2013
Doc on @WEEI about @BillSimmons: "He did everything he could to get me fired. Wrote letters, wanted to sit down w/ owners to talk about it."
— Ben Rohrbach (@brohrbach) June 28, 2013
Glenn is Rivers’ given name. The rivalry clearly has some history, but it came into the public eye during the NBA Draft, which Simmons covered for ESPN. Simmons called Rivers a quitter for leaving the Celtics for the Clippers in a trade that garnered Boston a first-round draft pick. Rivers responded during the draft, “I would like to call him an idiot, but I’m too classy for that.”
Simmons maintained that the coach’s story keeps changing and Rivers’ son Jeremiah took to Twitter on Friday to rip the journalist.
“If you don’t have all the facts, which you clearly DON’T, I suggest you sit down and shut up,” he wrote. “Good day sir.”
Simmons quipped later Friday on Twitter: “When I get home I’m signing up my 5 and a half year old son for Twitter so he can defend me against Doc Rivers’ kids.”
Rivers perhaps made the best point, speaking on “The Dan Patrick Show” on Friday.
“Bill’s a fan,” Rivers said. “Is he qualified to do the NBA? Well, we can debate that all day. But Bill’s a fan, and I get that. He’s not a friend of mine or a fan of mine and he never has been.”
Will Simmons’ admitted fandom — the every-man persona that separated himself from the pack as a writer years ago — cause ESPN to take action and pull back his appearances in these types of situations? Or will his undeniable popularity make ESPN hope this quickly blows over?
Ironically, Simmons and Rivers will crosspaths sooner rather than later. Simmons is a season-ticket holder for the Clippers.
